AUBURN - Women's basketball coach Nell Fortner has been rewarded for leading Auburn to its first Southeastern Conference championship in 20 years.
Fortner has signed a contract extension that will pay her a minimum of $570,000 annually for the next six seasons, according to an announcement by athletics director Jay Jacobs.
The extension includes a base salary of $226,800 with the remainder
coming from endorsement rights and radio and television agreements. The
extension also includes automatic raises for advancement in the NCAA
Tournament.
Fortner said she looks forward to even better days for Auburn basketball.
"I’m very appreciative of Jay Jacobs for his support and vision of
women’s basketball at Auburn,” Fortner said. “The past five years
have been phenomenal. We’ve experienced a tremendous amount of growth
and had an outpouring of support from the Auburn family, with great
crowds and a lot of excitement about Auburn women’s basketball.
"We have a tremendous staff, talented and dedicated student-athletes, a
great fan base and a new arena set to open in 2010, which makes the
future of this program very bright. I love Auburn and I’m very excited
to know that I am going to be here a long, long time.”
Named the SEC Coach of the Year, Fortner led the Tigers to a 30-4 record, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers’ 30 wins were the fourth-most in school history/
“We’re extremely pleased with the success of our women’s basketball program under Nell Fortner,” said Jacobs. “She has rebuilt this program, bringing it to national prominence again with an exciting brand of basketball. Under Nell’s leadership, her student-athletes have represented Auburn with the highest regard in the community, on the playing court and in the classroom. We look forward to the future of the program under Nell’s direction.”
In five seasons at Auburn, Fortner has a 101-57 record and has made the
NCAA Tournament the past two seasons.
